


Unbottled

by peoriapeoria



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 22:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This grew out of a 'quote' I wrote for Petra.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unbottled

It starts, as so many events do, with a girl. Sarah, age seven, had her leg in a cast, which led to Steve doing a small drawing on the not-plaster at the Avengers' meet and greet. Sarah wanted to reciprocate, and she had a bottle of nail polish. She did a good job on his pinky nail.

Being an Avenger isn't exactly a full time job, and unlike the waiting he did in the war, he had the room to set up a studio. He is experimenting with acrylics when he paints his thumbnail, and then the rest of the nails of that hand. He leaves Sarah's handiwork alone.

Beyond the more obvious effects of the Serum, Steve couldn't hold a scar. That would seem to be an unalloyed benefit, but it did leave him in an ever reset now. It was like being a beach. He starts in on print making and the ink smudges are comforting until the dyed skin sloughs away.

He sees the nail polish display on the way to check out. He hadn't really thought that there would be so many colors, or for that matter brands. He looks them over, and notices a little section of remaindered ones. He adds three bottles to his basket.

Steve doesn't sleep much; some of that is the Serum, some of that is being in ice for the past seventy years. Close enough. He has figured out how much training is optimal and when it becomes a waste of time. He has set aside periods for catching up on history and popular culture, for working on his art, team building, chores, cooking, knitting. He tries to keep them balanced out by the week, and by shorter increments if allowed.

Polishing his nails doesn't take much time, and it gives himself a reprieve from doing anything productive. He hadn't realized that the bottle of green he bought shifted to purple. It amuses him, and it gives him some ideas for a painting he's working on.

Tony is a jackass. This is the only thing he can say, think to himself, as the fifth package shows up. Each one contains several bottles of what JARVIS informs him are very expensive polishes. The first naturally was red, white and blue, the next had verdigris, patinaed copper, gunmetal gray and sepia.

His uniform has gloves. Tuxedos do not and they had a fight pretty much right up to his shower. The next day his fingernails are on the CNN crawl.

"Considering the tattoos I've seen people sport, why are people so interested in my hands? I've had them stained purple and green and didn't draw this kind of attention."

Clint is more of an ass and tosses Steve a cheap bottle of metallic purple during a meeting at S.H.E.I.L.D. Tony looks at it in horror.

Steve thinks the situation is ridiculous until he starts getting new kinds of fans. It hadn't occurred to him that in this day and age kids would be bullied by their own parents. Backing down is not an option.

Stark Industries debuts a new division, that is held down by no animal testing, low voc, fair trade, and other things Tony says too fast, products. Steve gets kissed a lot on the cheek in the next month but has no stains from the encounters. Kiss-proof lipstick that's easy to remove is part of the division's products as is a mascara that doesn't have to be replaced every six months.

He learns that the polish remover in a modified formulation is reducing respiratory aliments among factory workers. Funny how much change can come out of a little bottle.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Everything Special](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6896116) by [BairnSidhe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BairnSidhe/pseuds/BairnSidhe)




End file.
